Track broom machines (also known as “track sweepers”) are used to sweep snow, ballast and debris from railroad tracks and yard areas. One track broom machine 100 known in the art is shown in FIG. 1. The track broom machine 100 is typically in the form of a vehicle that can move freely along railway tracks. Among other things, the track broom machine 100 includes a rotatable broom portion 102, hereinafter referred to as a “railway track broom” or simply “track broom,” whose relevant features are highlighted in FIG. 1A. The track broom 102 generally includes a cylindrically shaped core 104 that may be mounted to a frame having flanged wheels adapted to ride on the track rails. A plurality of radially extending sweeper elements 106, referred to as “sweeper bristles” or “broom hoses,” are secured to the rotatable core 104. The sweeper bristles 106 are typically in the shape of hollow tubes and made of flexible and deformable materials such as rubber.
FIG. 1B illustrates how a sweeper bristle 106 is typically attached to the track broom 102. The rotatable core 104 includes a plurality of nipple elements 108 each of which has an outer diameter close to the inner diameter of the tube-shaped sweeper bristle 106. Each nipple element 108 also has barbs, ribs, or similar structure, such that, once a sweeper bristle 106 is fitted over the nipple element 108, the barbs or ribs thereon will bite into or otherwise hold onto the inside wall of the sweeper bristle 106. As a result, the sweeper bristles 106 are securely gripped onto the nipple elements 108 and cannot be easily loosened or detached from the track broom 102 during sweeping operations. Upon rotation of the core 104, the sweeper bristles 106 are rotated to impart a sweeping action to a subjacent rail or other surface positioned underneath the track broom 102.
After a period of use in sweeping operations, the sweeper bristles 106 may become worn out, broken, or degraded to such an extent that they have to be replaced with fresh bristles. However, it is no easy task manually removing the sweeper bristles 106 as they are so tightly secured to the track broom 102. Railway workers have used utility knives to cut off sweeper bristles from track brooms or resorted to other manual, labor-intensive methods, which are often both inefficient and unsafe.
While there are many known tube-pulling tools, the vast majority of them were designed for removing tubes from tube sheets in so-called “shell and tube heat exchangers.” In those exchangers, the tubes are usually much smaller than sweeper bristles of track brooms, and each tube is inserted into a small hole in a tube sheet (which is typically a metal plate). Tube-pulling tools designed for such inserted tubes are necessarily different from tools needed for removing tubes mounted on protruding nipple or stub elements. For example, in the context of tube sheets, it is important for a tube-pulling tool to not only get a good grip on the inside of a tube but also keep from scratching or damaging the inside of the hole in which the tube is inserted. Accordingly, the expansion of the tool tip has to be carefully limited and the gripping and pulling actions have to be coordinated. These particular considerations result in quite complex designs of tube-pulling tools which are at the same time quite low-powered. Such overly complicated designs and lack of power make existing tube-pulling tools unsuitable for efficient and effective removal of sweeper bristles from track brooms.
In view of the foregoing, it may be understood that there are significant problems and shortcomings associated with current tools and methods for sweeper bristle removal.